Looking back, London Ontario flowers, trees, smoke stack

Here are more from the old collection of London Ontario done sometime between 1998 and 2004. These were probably later, since I steadily improved over this time period. In this example, some purple flowers grew in an old fashioned tiled planter. If I could go back in time and give myself a tube of quinacridone purple (PV55) it would have been great to use. I probably mixed french ultramarine (PB28) with alizarian crimson (PR83), or maybe qunacridone rose (PV19). 

Tiled planter purple flowers, watercolour 5 x 7", 200x

Near Saugeen Maitland residence, I know the exact location, here is a detailed painting of a White flower tree (probably Magnolia), and a red flowering bed. Looking back, I am impressed and inspired with the amount of detail I got into these small paintings. it must have taken some time, and required small brushes. I see side-drag texturing on the asphalt, and overpainting of the grass texture just like I do today. 

White flower tree red flower bed, watercolour 5 x 7", 200x

The University of Western was building lots of new residence buildings back then, this was a construction dumpster on campus. My love of painting garbage bins and dumpsters goes way back. In fact, I have a few such paintings from 1995/96 by first season painting outdoors. I will try to dig those ones up from the archive. 

Turquoise dumpster, watercolour 5 x 7", 200x

Also on University of Western campus, this rock had a detailed pattern chiseled into its surface. I managed to capture the bluish shadows, against a lime-green background. Notice the blue pine tree in the background upper right, it seems to be the correct shade. 

Rock sculpture, watercolour 5 x 7", 200x

 

Another highliy detailed painting, I compsed the red-orange liles against a dark green background, with a streak of light going across the lawn. Some pylons lay on their side to left. Bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) would have been excellent for this painting, and pyrol orange (PO73). I really took on a tough subject here. 

Red lilies close up, watercolour 5 x 7", 200x 

One of the many campus buildings, with its limestone facade, illuminated by a setting sun. It was a neat composition, to cut the scene high like this, and focus on the light/shadow effect. Maybe I should give myself more credit for this period of painting in my life. Now that I make th blog it helps see everything in context. 

Sunset top of building, watercolour 5 x 7", 200x

Lastly, a delicate painting of a plume of smoke coming from the top of a building, probably steam coming out of an autoclave oven in the science building. The sun was setting which created an interesting orange halo around the dense plume. Its a tough effect to pull off, in fact I tried something like this last year, although in the winter. Maybe if I go out painting tomorrow which seems likely since its Saturday I can take on some more challenging scenes like this, of course, every painting is a challenge!

Sunset plume of smoke, watercolour 5 x 7", 200x 

 

Demo corner, sunlight, excavator

Not too far from Cabot square, on st Catherine's street, something rather was bulldozed to make way for new development. The adjacent building's wall still had an imprint of a staircase which was neat, and eerie. The foundation was made of old stone wall, topped with red brick. You don't get to see this stuff often, and soon there will be a gleaming glass building here.  

Old wall impressions, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Looking through the fence from another angle, the sun was coming through, casting a shadow on the sidewalk. A pile of bricks remained from the demolition. You see light coming through, I commented awhile ago how all of downtown Montreal is nearly in shadow now due to the dense skyscrapers. 

Bricks on sidewalk, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

A huge excavator vehicle sat idle, with its scooper resting on a sheet of iron. I painted it in almost an abstract way, so you have to look at the painting a bit to start to see the form. The key to all this was the metal hydraulic cylinder in the upper middle of the painting. It was one of the few objects glimmerings against an earth brown background. 

Excavator, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026 

Shaughnessy village, Cabot Square, Lamborghini

Standing near Cabot Square, I made a painting of the rooftops, typical of Shaughnessy village. the A-frame rooftop windows, with old brick facades were really popular a long time ago. Now many buildings are replaced with soaring brick and glass condo towers. 

Shaughnessy village rooftops, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Here is one of the newer condos, gleaming white with stylish green glass windows and balconies. The adjacent condo was casting a long shadow across its facade. To paint something like this, the washes have to be done fast, and correct the first time. Messing around with the washes leads to their collapse. I got a two-toned shadow by varying the purple mix with green (PG7) and red-orange (PO73). 

Long shadow condo tower, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

A Chinese food restaurant on the corner, with condo towers and part of an old triplex at the bottom right. Anchoring the composition is a traffic sign and lights. I amped up colour chroma for this one to inject some excitement into the painting. I had accidentally inhaled some odd-smelling smoke while walking around in Cabot square too, which may have altered my perception slightly. 

Busy corner Shaughnessy village, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Standing on the same corner I reeled off a number of paintings, including this one of Cabot square in the background and a fancy sports car in the foreground. It just stopped briefly for a traffic light, I think it was my Lamborghini, the valet was just returning it to me. 

Cabot square fancy car, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026 

Westhaven field, Rona parking lot

Back to watercolours on location, I just posted a slew of digital images, and had not painted outside for several days until this Wednesday. This scene was done at the Westhaven field near the train tracks, just across from Raffi auto. Yellow buttercups grow this time of year, I did a painting of chair in a field of yellow buttercups one of my all time favorites. 

Field yellow flowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

The bottom of the painting shows part of a community garden in the Westhaven field, while Rona sits in the background. Rona actually donated the land to the community which was a decent thing to do.

Rona rear community garden, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Lets hope this electrical pole isn't the harbinger of construction. For now, it was just a funny thing to paint, it seemed to have an orange top hat, and was singing show tunes? 

Electrical pole tophat, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Using my newfound knowledge of glow effects (learned from using digital sketchbook app), I could create a realistic looking interior track light effect. Done with brush and watercolour its a trick thing to get right. The main idea was the giant tree, and how it seemed to be growing out of the auto shop. Its actually behind the auto shop along the train tracks. 

Raffi interior big tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Great piles of wooden palettes were stacked up in the Rona parking lot. Mainly I stood here to get shade from a nearby tree, and painted the scene up close. The palettes were done loosely using a blend of earth colours and blue. 

Palettes in shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Also in the Rona parking lot there is a donation bin in the corner, and someone left this old couch sitting out. I painted a couch on the curb in London Ontario once, I will try to dig up that painting and scan it again. This one turned out pretty good, it has a nice breezy feel to it. In the background is the recently completed massive condo building on st Jacques street. 

Donation couch, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026 

Digital cold dip

I did a painting in 2020 called trapped under the ice, it was a very hot day and the blue colour made us feel cooler somehow. In this digital version made on Sketchbook app, I recreated the effect with concentric blue rings done in spray paint. Stamping the crack features with varying sizes created depth, and some spatter brush added an ice effect. 

Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

To make this image, I drew out the background alien with soft spray paint, used spatter brush for stars, then took a picture of my cellphone with my other cellphone. Importing the image, trimming, and over-drawing the glow fingers, completed the artwork. Luckily, the fingertips glowed where they touched the screen. 

Non-selfie, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

In this case, many different brushes were used to make a swirling effect, along with cyan bubbles. Its looking down the laundry drain. 

Laundry drain, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

This is the path that the alien took to get to work. I started with a faux-sunset with spray paint, applied stars with spatter brush, then drew over neon lines until they looked good.  

Night light show, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Finally another swirl in monochrome blue. I first applied a texture grid, warped it with the transform tool, then applies a simple swirl with a marker tool, and added spatters with stamp tool, varying the size and colour saturation. Staring at this makes me feel a little cooler! 

Warped swirl in blue, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000 

Digital heat wave

Its getting hot out here, and summer has just got underway. These digital sketches made on Sketchbook app were all of a warm colour scheme. In this one I applied a dark red (maroon) background and used the mesh tools to establish an interesting pattern, followed by consecutive stamps. Zooming in, you can see a lot of texture like inside a brain. 

Hormonal brain receptors, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Another dimension, inter-galatic planetary, according to the Beasty Boys. Varying the sharpness of the lines created extra depth. Each brush has a different hardness and softness, the markers being sharp, and the spray paint tool being soft. 

Interplanetary growth, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Starting with a digital painting, I smeared it, then drew a yellow outline. Trimming the edges and applying a coloured mesh completed the effect, then I made a warping effect with a transformation tool. 

Glow mask mesh, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

This one uses glow stamps and glow meshes on a blue background. Each lint ball is a tight spiral, which gets whiter at the center. Additional stamps gave the lint effect. 

Microscpic lint balls, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

This one was completed with the 'watercolour pencil' tool, which gives a braided-rug like texture. Processing it in Image J, I applied sharpening transformation to give an edgier appearance. 

Sharper swipe, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Digital giggles and thrills

Initially a colour digital artwork done on Sketchbook app, I changed it to greyscale on Image J. Image J is a free image processing program, developed at the National Institute of Health for scientists. I use it at work for image processing. I also use it at home to format my watercolour scans, and save digital images as jpeg. 

Cellular confusion (grayscale), Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Starting out as three interconnected loops, I gradually turned this one into a surrealist piece. In elementary school, my friends would draw a random squiggle on a piece of paper and I would turn it into a cool drawing. 

Magenta flower smoky sky, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Science inspires art, this one looks like it could have been taken by a confocal (laser scanning) microscope. I learned to use such a microscope back at Western University. 

Microscopic examination, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Starting with near-black coloured swirls, I over-layed neon swirls. The neon tool reacts in an interesting manner to its background. Its quite a pleasing effect. 

Neon swirl on swirl, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Not so pleasing, this one is agitating, like anger artwork. shocking yellow threads evoke a monster, with contrasting red and green patterns. Most of the composition was accomplished with stamping, then I drew over dozens of squiggles. 

Yellow lint monster, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000

Finally for this batch, I kept over-laying patterns and stamps until it looked like a mish-mash of arts and crafts. Then I used the mesh tool to write my initials PJD and year 26. 

Arts and crafts PJD, Sketchbook, digital 1600 x 2000